human nature school

Local Organizations

The mission of the Northern Michigan Partnership is to provide innovative and cutting edge educational opportunities that will service all learners in our community. All classes will be free of charge and offered to all students. The Partnership will bring together students, parents, educators and community experts to encourage and help facilitate integrated and cooperative learning. Through careful listening, observation and reaction to how learning takes place, we will create an environment that flows with the interest of the students

Every day, the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative sparks new ways for teachers and students to learn from the world around them. We inspire connections between classrooms and the local environment to build resilient communities. We provide unprecedented resources to transform K–12 education in the Great Lakes region through a powerful, one-of-a-kind statewide network of coordinated hubs.

The Grand Traverse Stewardship Initiative (GTSI) provides leadership and resources to support place-based education, school-community partnerships, and sustained professional development for teachers. Since 2010, 89 teachers, 113 community partners, and 5,000 students have collaborated on place-based projects. The GTSI is one of nine Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative hubs located throughout Michigan and is hosted by the Inland Seas Education Association.

Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology envisions communities that are grounded in place: where people connect through stories, music, art, shared work, and food, and where the economy and culture are rooted in restoration of the earth and its people.

Extended Education at Northwestern Michigan College offers lifelong learning opportunities for ages 3 to 100. Enjoy fun and informative learning in short courses, ranging from personal enrichment to professional development.

The NMSFC promotes and builds a local vibrant agriculture community, equips the small farm community with the tools to be successful, and provides a forum for the open exchange of ideas within the small farm community.

Amalia Brings 20 years of nature education to her home in Northern Michigan. She offers a wide variety of camps and programs at home and world wide and directs Human Nature School’s Forest Kindergarten Program.

National Organizations

Our vision is to reach out with our teachings until there is a nature awareness school in every region, a mentor in every neighborhood, a naturalist in every family, and compassion for each other and the earth in every heart.

At the Eight Shields Institute we utilize a finely tuned, tried and true mentoring model that has proven to create healthy and vibrant natural leaders and nature-based communities around the world. Jon Young, and the Eight Shields Institute founders, have utilized the 8 Shields Mentoring Model to inspire and train leaders in hundreds of communities worldwide. For over 30 years the 8 Shields Mentoring Model has been applied, cultivated and honed. It represents the wisdom and teachings of beloved elders and cultures from around the world, who demonstrate ancient patterns for connecting deeply with the earth and all of life.

Vermont Wilderness School is a community non-profit organization that offers powerful nature-based mentoring programs for children and adults.Our programs are based in the Connecticut River Valley bioregion of southern Vermont and western Massachusetts. Through our annual Art of Mentoring workshop and other regional programs, we also help to grow nature-based education and community development throughout the Northeast. Our work has touched the lives of thousands of children and adults since 2000. We envision a future of vibrant communities inhabiting their bioregions sustainably for the long term. Our mentoring approach builds deep relationships with the natural world, preparing our students to be passionate caretakers of the planet. Please join us!

Quail Springs accomplishes its mission through youth and adult programming, maintaining an example of high-desert regenerative human settlement, and partnerships with for-profit and nonprofit organizations. We do this work because we are passionate about restoring our planet and we believe that these times offer us a call to action to live regeneratively – not just sustainably. As climate change and environmental conservation move to the forefront of the world’s consciousness, growing numbers of people are looking for ways that they can make a positive impact. Quail Springs is an important hub for people to share and discover ways of deepening their understanding of regenerative living.

MISSION

To foster a deep connection to and awareness of the natural world, ourselves, and each other.